New Owner, Life Coming To Fun Country

The owner of one of Traverse City's most popular recreational sites could breathe new life into a long-shuttered amusement park in Interlochen.

Gordon Wagner, owner of Timber Ridge RV & Recreation Resort, has purchased the former Fun Country property on US-31 in Interlochen. The 40-acre parcel – including the park waterslides and equipment, mini-golf course and a 2,058-square foot, four-bedroom home – sold for $215,000, according to Dan Stiebel of Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realtors. In June, Stiebel told The Ticker the investment group that owned the property gave him permission to drop the listing price of $295,000 to “hit a price point” that would attract a buyer following a revolving door of potential developers over the last decade.

The strategy worked. “There was a big price drop...so I nabbed it,” Wagner says. “I saw it as a potential investment property. Now it's going to be a late winter or spring project to get things cleaned up...and (evaluate) what's out there.”

Wagner says his interest in the Fun Country property stemmed from a “combination of things,” including equipment he could “possibly relocate” to his East Hammond Road park. Asked if putting the site's waterslides into use at Timber Ridge is one possibility, the owner affirms yes, though he says he needs to ascertain their condition first to determine whether that's a realistic scenario.

“I didn't put any value on the slides (when making the offer), just because I don't have any experience with that,” Wagner says. “That's going to be one of those things I look at this winter.”

Wagner says he's particularly interested in the wooded back half of the property. “I looked at a seasonal RV park as a logical idea for that area,” he says. “It's a half mile back, so you could put a commercial development on the property up front (along US-31), and it wouldn't even bother the back. If I did something like that, I could run an easement road back there (to access the park).”

While Wagner says Green Lake Township officials told him an RV park was not “currently an allowable use” for the site, if he decided to pursue such a project, he could apply to have the property rezoned. (An RV park was also proposed for the property in the mid-2000s.)

As for the rest of the parcel, Wagner says he'll continue to lease out the occupied residential house for now, though he may “sell it off” in the future. The new owner's also had some “informal discussions with a few parties” who've expressed interest in operating different businesses in portions of the park, including reopening the mini-golf course and/or operating an ice cream shop out of the site's concessions stand during the summer.

Though Wagner stresses all possible uses for the park and its assets are still in “the very early stages,” he's open to exploring the full potential of the property.

“If there's any day-to-day commercial activity out there, it'll be because of a third party,” Wagner says. “If someone's interested and has an idea...and it's something the township will allow, that helps pay the property taxes and is good for the area...I'm open to it."